Gov. DeWine to meet GM CEO in Detroit this morning

Staff report

LORDSTOWN

GM Vigil

Video

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to meet this morning with General Motors CEO Mary Barra at the Detroit Auto Show to make a pitch that the Lordstown plant not be shuttered after Chevrolet Cruze production ends in March.

The meeting follows one Wednesday between DeWine and a contingent from the Drive It Home Ohio campaign to save the Lordstown plant, who drove to Detroit to meet with the governor, and a rally at the Lordstown complex of more than 100 GM workers and supporters.

James Dignan, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said DeWine told the group Ohio is open for business.

“Here we have a great facility and a great workforce,” Dignan said.

“[DeWine discussed] what it’s going to take to change for that next level of investment. Ohio is here to partner and help make that decision because Ohio and Lordstown want to be a part of that future.”

Members of United Auto Workers Local 1112 and Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill are part of the trip to Detroit.

Hill said he thinks the news conference with DeWine went well.

“GM realized we want to keep them in Lordstown, and I feel pretty good about it,” he said.

GM announced last November that it will eliminate up to 14,000 workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure – including Lordstown – as it abandons many of its car models and restructures to focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles.

During an afternoon conference call Wednesday, Barra again reiterated that the moves GM made has better positioned the company.

“We have 20 launches coming out next year,” Barra said. “We have the strength and the ability to continue to grow Cadillac, with some new product that will continue to allow us to grow – outgrow, not only the market, but the luxury market with the Cadillac brand. So we see strong opportunity there.”

The local workers disagree with Barra, contending the Lordstown plant should be part of GM’s future.

Among those supporting that fight at Wednesday’s rally was UAW Local 1112 vice president Tim O’Ohara, and community activist Werner Lange, who has staged a nearly three-week protest of GM’s decision to not give the Lordstown plant a new product.

“We have to keep this plant open. We cannot afford another “Black Monday,” said Lange.

“Black Monday” – Sept. 19, 1977 – was when owners of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Campbell Works closed the steel mill’s doors without warning.

“If this plant closes, the whole Mahoning Valley’s future is threatened,” said Lange. “They can’t abandon their responsibility to the community.”

“We want GM to allocate a new vehicle for GM Lordstown. We want it to be the future home of all-electric vehicles. They could, and they should, be built here,” Lange said.

“We have built more than 16 million vehicles since the plant opened in 1966. We can build anything,” said O’Ohara.

GM is investing billions to build vehicles.

“We want them to build the vehicles in the United States and in Lordstown. We have a great work force. Give us a chance,” said O’Hara.

Some of Wednesday’s protesters believe the shutdown is a contract negotiation tactic and are taking a wait-and-see stance regarding transferring to another GM facility until the results of the new contract are known. The contract expires in September.

Among those are Aaron Applegate, who transferred to GM Lordstown from Indiana 10 years ago, and Barry Brown, who came to GM Lordstown from Delphi Packard in 2008 and has 25 years total with GM.

“I feel GM is trying to force older people out so they can use lower-paid new employees before bringing in a new product,” said Kasey King, a 24-year veteran at the plant and writer and editor of “See Here,” Local 1112’s newsletter.

King believes GM Lords-town will eventually get a new product.

Melanie Harris of West Farmington, who has 10 years at the Lordstown plant, carried a sign that perhaps expressed the feelings of many at the rally: “It’s a shame we can’t keep the work here. If they want us to buy it here, it should be made here.”